to Japan, with love

Wearing something you've knitted using Noro yarn is like wearing a work of art. If you're unfamiliar with Noro, they are a Japanese yarn producer, famous for their beautiful hand-dyed color compositions and natural fibers. And since all of our hearts and minds have been focused on the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan this past week, I've been looking at this project even more. Thinking about the people there, friends in the military who are stationed there, fellow bloggers that I 'know' online who live there, the horrifying potential nuclear crisis, the people who are still unaccounted for. The people who have lost everything.

It quickly became obvious to me that I needed to give back to the place that made this beautiful yarn, so I am going to be putting this Noro wrap/scarf up for auction and donating the proceeds to the Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami disaster relief efforts.

If you're wondering more about the details of this wrap, it is very lightweight and was hand-knit by me using two skeins of Noro Taiyo, which is a gorgeously soft silk and cotton blend. It can be worn as a wrap (which would look amazing over a black dress) or a scarf, shown here. e.t.a. For those who have asked about the pattern, this is a modified Clapotis of sorts … I cast on a smaller number of stitches, dropped a different number of stitches and didn’t do the tapered edges (mine are just square.)

The colors are beyond fantastic in person and this colorway is just plain rad. There's a little bit of black, blue, gray, red, pink, orange, golden yellow and fuchsia in this baby.

The 'To Japan, With Love' wrap/scarf is up for sale here. Go bid! Once again, proceeds from this auction will go to the Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami efforts. Pass it on. And feel free to re-blog this and use any of the images in this post. (Thank you so much.)

Hi Jen, what a wonderful idea, well done, and it's soooooo pretty too. I'm inspired to make one right now and this is one of my favourite colour combinations with the orange, yellow, pink, fushia but I can't find this particular one on ebay, what is it called please? Also when you say you used 2 skeins, how much do you mean 2x50gr or 2x100gr. thank you Karen xxxxx ps I can guess the pattern!!!

Jen, that is beautiful!!! What a wonderful way to support such a good cause. I've been trying to think how insane it must be over there right now, and I can't wrap my head around how horrible it must be. My heart breaks thinking about it all.

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HEY! I'M JEN. HEYJENRENEE IS A BLOG ABOUT CRAFTING, KNITTING AND MUSIC. SOMETIMES IT'S ABOUT SCOOTERS & SKATEBOARDING WITH A LITTLE BIT OF THE MOM THING THROWN IN. BECAUSE THAT'S MY LIFE. NEW READER? START HERE.